CANBERRA: Australian Tax Office, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has acknowledged. Tens of millions of dollars in tax paid by at least one multinational appear to be involved. On Monday, it emerged that Apple’s New Zealand subsidiary, Apples Sales NZ which is registered to an Auckland address and employs about 30 staff appeared to be continuing to pay tax on its profits in Australia, rather than in New Zealand. In the year to September alone, Apple Sales NZ paid more than $10m tax to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), the subsidiary’s accounts suggest. The primary message I am trying to give is I can’t understand how you can rack up revenues and book a profit in one country but end up paying tax in another country,” he said. Inland Revenue has declined to comment on why it might not be taxing Apple Sales NZ, and would not respond directly to Nash’s comments. Spokesman Pete van Schaardenburg would not say whether it was in dispute with the ATO over Apple Sales NZ’s tax residency status. A clause in the Tax Administration Act would allow it to comment on the company’s tax affairs, if it judged that public trust and confidence in the tax system was being undermined by its failure to do so.
Inland Revenue would also not confirm whether a tax bill introduced to Parliament last year will mean Apple Sales NZ will have to pay tax in New Zealand in future, regardless of whether it is also taxed on its profits by the ATO. An Apple spokesman in Sydney would not comment whether it was concerned the law change might mean it would face “double taxation”. He pointed to a statement issued by Apple which said that under the current international tax system, profits should be taxed “based on where the value is created”.
